The Dare Collection April 2019. Nicola Marsh
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and he shifted, swivelling the chair around and pulling me into his lap.
‘You’re fierce, woman.’ His sky-blue eyes met mine, direct and uncompromising. ‘I approve.’
I settled myself against his chest, in the crook of his arm, and looked up at him. ‘Well, it’s true. And I’m glad you took him down in the end.’
An expression that I thought was regret flickered over his face. ‘It took me too long.’
‘But you had to be careful, right? I mean, otherwise he would have hurt your brothers.’
‘It still took longer than it should. And I had to stand by while...’
I put my hand on his bare chest, feeling the strong beat of his heart, knowing that whatever had made him stop, it was painful. ‘You don’t need to say it.’
He searched my face for a long time. ‘I had to stand by while Leon was kidnapped and tortured. While Dad used Xander to steal people’s money. I couldn’t do a thing for them, not without betraying myself and all the plans I’d put in place. Taking down my father was more important and I sacrificed my brothers to do it.’ He stared at me as if I had the answer to a question he’d been dying to know the answer to. ‘What kind of man does that?’
Grief twisted in my heart, for him and the childhood he’d had. For how his father had used him.
Was this why he thought he was a monster?
I lifted my hands to his face, holding him gently. ‘You wanted to save people,’ I said fiercely. ‘Not just your brothers, but all the people your father hurt. All the people your father could potentially hurt too if he wasn’t stopped.’
A shadow moved over his face. ‘I’m not looking for forgiveness, Imogen.’
I dropped my hands, unexpectedly stung. ‘I wasn’t giving it.’
‘That’s not why I told you.’
I pushed the prick of hurt away. This wasn’t about me. It was about him. ‘So why did you tell me then?’
‘So you understand. The end justifies the means. Every time.’
I swallowed. ‘Yes, I get it.’
The hard look in his eyes softened. He brushed my cheek with one finger. ‘I’m not saying this to hurt you and I’m sorry if I did. I just want to be straight with you. You can’t get too comfortable with me. I’m a man with only one goal and I won’t change it. Not for you. Not for anyone.’
Hearing it shouldn’t have made the hurt go deeper. He was being honest and I appreciated it. Not that I was going to get too comfortable with him in any case.
‘That’s good.’ I tried to make my voice light. ‘Because you know I’m going to lose interest in you soon in any case. I always do.’
His eyes gleamed, though whether it was amusement or something else I wasn’t quite sure. ‘You want to see something?’
‘What?’ Automatically I looked down at his shorts.
This time there was no mistaking his amusement, his laugh deep and rough and sexy. ‘No, it’s not that, not today.’
My hurt began to ebb, pleased by how I’d made him laugh. I flicked him a glance from underneath my lashes. ‘Is there anything else as interesting?’
‘Look at my computer screen and then tell me.’
I sighed and turned to look at the screen.
I saw what looked to be a 3D rendering of a building. ‘What’s that?’
‘A new apartment block my sister-in-law is designing.’ He leaned forward, gripping the mouse and shifting it, his bare skin and heat teasing my hyper-alert senses.
The building tilted and turned in response, giving a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree viewpoint.
Of course. He was in the property development business, wasn’t he?
I sat up, my curiosity starting to kick in. ‘Is your company going to be building that?’
‘Yes. Eventually. If we get the returns we want on the luxury apartment complex that’s going up soon.’
I reached out towards the mouse. ‘Can I have a look?’
He nodded and sat back, letting me take control.
I studied the building from different viewpoints, zooming in, pleased when the inside plans opened up and I could see all the apartments. Simple, elegant spaces, designed to take advantage of the light.
I knew nothing about buildings, still less about architecture, but this building looked like somewhere I’d want to live myself.
‘It’s amazing,’ I said, staring fascinated at the screen. ‘Who’s it for?’
‘Families who don’t have homes.’
I turned sharply to look at him.
His gaze was as uncompromising as it had been when he’d talked about his brothers. ‘There are a lot of homeless people out there, families with nowhere to go. I’ve been liaising with the state housing officials and we’re working something out. This building is as eco-friendly as it’s possible to get and cost efficient to build, and hopefully will serve as a prototype for more.’
Saving his city. That’s what he’d said he was trying to do, and not only from people who might threaten it. He was trying to make it a better place for the people who lived in it too.
‘Who’s going to pay for it?’ I asked, trying to cover the giant lump in my throat.
‘I will. I have plenty of money.’
‘You’re not a monster,’ I said bluntly. ‘You’re like... Batman and Captain America and Thor all rolled up into one.’
He lifted a hand to my face, brushing my cheek. ‘Look at the building again. I want to know if you think there’s anything more I need to do to it, anything I could add.’
I shivered at his touch. ‘But I don’t know anything about buildings.’
‘You have an amazing mind, though.’ His mouth turned up. ‘Time to put it to good use.’
Ajax
AS I’D HOPED, Imogen became totally engrossed in the apartment building that Poppy, Xander’s new wife, had designed for me.
So much so that she barely looked at me when I finally left the room to go and do a few other things.
I took her coffee and toast an hour later, and this time she didn’t even turn, merely muttering thanks as she frowned at the article she was in the middle of reading.
I smiled and left her to it, having a shower then going downstairs, yet another message on my phone from her father burning a hole in the pocket of my jeans.
There were a lot of those, each message more and more pissed-off sounding, demanding I let him see his daughter.
You’ve been putting it off.
I pulled open the massive sliding window in the lounge that led to the pool and stepped outside, making sure it was shut behind me. Then I walked over to where the tiled pool area met the cliff that plunged down into the sea. A small stone parapet marked the edge of the cliff and I stood near it, staring out over the sea as I took the phone from my pocket.
Yes. For the last two days I had been putting this off.
Because something was holding me back from granting White’s request. And I wasn’t sure what it was.
It